About: Tom Otterness
Tom Otterness was born in Wichita, Kansas in 1952. He moved to New York in 1970 to begin studying art, and soon after began an independent study program at the Whitney Museum of American Art. In 1977 he joined a group of contemporary artists in so-called Collaborative Projects. Throughout his time in New York, Otterness began creating the cartoon like style and figures that are represented in most of his art to this day. Otterness claims that these figures are inspired by five distinct groups of people: blue collar workers, white collar workers, cops, radicals and rich people. Otterness made a name for himself in the contemporary art community by participating in the Collaborative Projects’ art show in Times Square in 1980. From there, he built his reputation as a public works sculptor with a wide variety of pieces in acclaimed exhibitions and galleries. One of his greatest accomplishments was when he was commissioned to create a balloon for the 2005 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade, becoming one of a select few contemporary artists to do so.
“Feats of Strength” by Tom Otterness
Photographed by Rachel Turner
The Project
For our project we looked at his piece Feats of Strength, located in the Haskell Plaza, and decided to interpret it into paintings of different mediums. At face value, Feats of Strength is made up of many different cartoonish figures in various degrees of labour, which is representative of the working and upper class in the time of its creation in 1990. The gardens in Haskell Plaza also bear resemblance to the San Juan islands, which puts another layer of meaning behind these figures, as they can now also be interpreted as residents of San Juan. We decided to take a more personalized approach to our interpretations of this piece, and looked at how these working figures could represent students in the college environment. We chose one particular figure of the impish woman holding a large rock above her head, and reproduced the image as a painting. Each of these paintings shows our own feats of strength as college students, and different interpretations of the sculpture and the metaphorical weights that we carry.
Feats of Strength Figure 1 by Lisan Kent – Oil on paper
This interpretation of Feats of Strength and its relevance to college students focuses on the workload of college classes. The figure is holding a textbook to represent class reading, and the gray background gives a somber sense of foreboding to the bronze. She is standing on a mound of papers that represent the numerous essays written for college courses. Many students feel the immediate weight of the amount of work a student has to do.
Feats of Strength Figure 2 by Rachel Turner – Acrylic on canvas
This painting looks at the foreboding future of student loans and the debt many students are entering to fund their higher education. The gold represents the monetary value of higher education and the weight that it holds many people under. Student loans and debt are a large part of the stress and weight of college.
Feats of Strength Figure 3 by June Jennings – Watercolor and acrylic on paper
This interpretation focuses more on the college experience as a whole. Many students feel as if the weight of the whole world is on their shoulders in this critical time in their lives as they decide their futures. This painting is also indicative of the new generation of college students that have to go out and inherit the world and it’s conflicts.
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